Chapter 4

Wednesday. Never had the word sounded so good in Kaldur's mind. No job, no responsibilities, just him and a day to relax, which was needed even more than usual after this last week. It wasn't that he hadn't enjoyed the conversations with Raquel and her friends, but they'd left him decidedly more drained than usual. After a morning spent sleeping in and finishing up the chores around his apartment by noon, Kaldur decided to go on a walk through the park near campus, maybe even swing by the beach on his way back. The exercise would do him some good, as well as spending time outdoors.

Happy Harbor was one of those places too large to really be called a town, but not quite big enough to be considered a true city. For many years, the fishing and lumber industries had been the settlement's lifeblood, before the University opened up and started attracting new groups of people. Now there were factory and dockworkers, but also college students and graduates, young families just getting started, and more than a few corporations looking to set up offices in the expanding town. Wayne Enterprises was one of the bigger ones, which, after speaking to Dick the other night about nudging his foster father into the idea, Kaldur could understand.

As he headed through the quiet, grassy park, the man mused over the varied backgrounds of the people he'd come to be acquainted with this week, amazed at how they'd all managed to find friends in the others. He'd always been a bit of a loner growing up, in another seaside town where everyone you met had pretty much the same story going back generations.

He was still thinking about it when Kaldur realized someone was calling his name.

Turning to look at a nearby park bench, his eyebrows went up at the sight of Raquel, Roy and an olive-skinned woman with a mane of black hair all looking at him.

"I'm not sure whether to laugh or groan at seeing you both again." He said honestly as he approached. Raquel grinned at that, while Roy smirked and the other woman rolled her eyes, before reaching forward to shake hands with him.

"It's nice to meet you, Mister Ahm. I'm Jade, Red's wife." Her grip was strong, with calluses on her hand indicating the hard work she'd done for many a year.

"A pleasure, and please, call me Kaldur." He returned easily. "May I assume the three of you are out to enjoy the pleasant weather as well?"

"Well, really, we're out to let the kids run around and expend some of their energy," Raquel explained.

"Makes our jobs easier come tonight when it's time to tuck the little buggers in- oof!" Kaldur was hard pressed to hold in a laugh at Roy's expression when Jade drove an elbow into his gut. The woman's expression remained cheerful, but he could see the mixed spark of annoyance and mischievousness in her eyes.

"Yes, it is a nice day, isn't it?" Jade replied genially as her husband rubbed at his new sore spot. This time Kaldur did chuckle, though he was soon overtaken by childish screams fast approaching.

"MO-OM!" A young boy ran right up to Raquel, desperately trying to clamber into her lap. "Make Lian stop chasing me!" Racing after her came a smaller girl, grinning wickedly as she held something in her dirt-staineded hands.

"Daddy! Mommy! I caughts a wormy!" The ginger-haired toddler looked exceptionally proud of herself as she stopped before he parents. "Can I keep it?"

"Sure, sweetheart!" Roy exclaimed before Jade had a chance to say otherwise. He leaned forward from the bench, prompting Lian to listen intently as he stage-whispered to her. "But wouldn't you rather put it down Amistad's shirt?" The toddler's grin turned wicked as she swung her eyes over to look at the grossed out boy, who promptly clung closer to his mother.

"Oh, I hardly think that's fair to the worm, though." Kaldur thought it best to intervene before was yelled at by the glowering women. He crouched down to be closer to Lian's eye level. "I think a better idea would be to use something that couldn't get hurt." She considered it for a moment, then nodded and took off, presumably to go exchange the worm for some handfuls of mud. At Kaldur's expectant look, Amistad used the opportunity to depart from Raquel's lap and flee in the opposite direction. As soon as both the kids were out of earshot, all four adults burst out laughing.

Jade was the first to recover. "Honestly, Roy, you can never say no to that girl."

"Which is why I diverted her with the other suggestion."

"Yeah, thanks for that." Raquel snorted. "My kid's got enough of an issue with bugs as it is, I don't need you or yours helping."

"Sorry, Rocky. But! At least kind Mr. Ahm was around to help, right, Kaldur?"

"Glad to be of service." He said with a bemused smile. "Now, I don't want to interrupt your afternoon any further-"

"Oh, don't be ridiculous. Sit down and stay for a while." Raquel scooted down the bench, nudging Roy and Jade into doing so as well as they cleared a little more space for Kaldur to sit. He resisted blushing at the close proximity that put him into with Raquel, but gingerly took a seat anyway. As the parents continued to keep an eye on their respective offspring, running around the grassy area, they started engaging him in conversation about various local happenings. It wasn't until nearly half an hour had gone by that Jade thought to bring up the advice he'd been giving to their mutual friends.

"Sounds like you could really have used this man's help when we were dating, Roy." She teased the redhead after Kaldur ran through his explanations.

"Hey, I'm just happy with where we ended up." Both Kaldur and Raquel found themselves looking elsewhere as the married couple kissed. It was around that time that Amistad reappeared, a sleepy looking Lian clinging to his hand. The Harpers found themselves departing a little earlier than expected, taking their toddler home for a nap before she started pitching a fit.

"Will you push me on the swings, Mom?" Amistad asked with the pitiful expression all children seemed to master by his age. Raquel laughed, standing, and headed towards the nearby swingset with her son as Kaldur found himself trailing along after. He somehow ended up doing the pushing, sending Amistad a bit higher into the air more easily than his mother could manage. The boy was delighted to have someone new playing with him, and then proceeded to drag Kaldur around with him on all of the playground equipment. Standing off to one side, Raquel watched them with an odd expression on her face.

"Oh, you're so lucky to have a husband willing to play with his son like that." A middle-aged woman said as she was passing by. Eyes widening with a start, Raquel swung around to correct her, but the stranger had already moved on.